


It Leads You Here Despite Your Destination

by JackEPeace



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AOSFicNet2 Midyear Exchange, Future Fic, Gen, mentions of Captain Marvel because I love her, post s5 post Infinity War, spec fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 09:58:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15531771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackEPeace/pseuds/JackEPeace
Summary: "I just feel like I should go with you.”May lifts an eyebrow. “Why?”“I want to do something.” Softer, she adds, “It does seem like the type of thing you should have to do alone.”(or May and Daisy go on a road trip to attempt to save the world -set post Infinity War)





	It Leads You Here Despite Your Destination

**Author's Note:**

  * For [26stars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/26stars/gifts).



> Here is my fic for the AoS Fic Net's midyear fic exchange! Sorry it took me a little while but it was fun to write! I'm sure if there's anyone who could really save the world and reverse Thanos' nonsense, it would be Maria Hill and Melinda May. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this fic! I tried to ignore some Daisy and May bonding and a little bit of speculation about what might happen next! Enjoy my friend! You are fabulous! 
> 
> Title from "Under the Milky Way" by The Church (which also reminds me of Donnie Darko just saying)

A few days after the world ends and half the living things on it turn to dust, Melinda May finally comes back to the base and Daisy feels like she can breathe for the first time in months.

Years, if she’s being completely honest.

But, then again, honestly really hasn’t always been Daisy’s strong suit.

The base, like the rest of the world, seems eerily empty now, even though there hadn’t been that many agents hanging around in the first place. Most of them left or died and those that had stuck around to see SHIELD through its latest incantation are now mostly gone, like everyone else, lost in the dust.

Daisy feels like they should do something about this, that SHIELD and the five or six of them that are left should try to do something about this whole end of the world thing.

But she’s tired and well…there’s that weight on her chest, constricting and pressing at the same time and it isn’t until Daisy sees May again that she exhales, that her brain stops buzzing, that she feels like maybe she can, eventually, one day, _do_ something again.

“May, you’re alive.”

It’s the first thing out of Daisy’s mouth and though it doesn’t really encapsulate any of the things that she’s feeling about the situation, it is the first logical thing to say.

May. Alive. All other thoughts seem temporarily unnecessary.

It’s how Daisy felt when she rushed into the lab and found that Jemma was still there, staring blankly at a pile of dust in the midst of a shattered beaker or test tube. And how she felt when Elena was still there in the gym, giving her new arms a workout, completely unaware that the world was ending -yet again.

May drops her back, nodding as she looks at Daisy. “For now.”

Daisy finds it hard to believe that she used to look at May, at her stoic face, expressionless and still, and think that was all there was to see. Once she looked at May and missed everything that her eyes were saying. She can’t miss that now, can’t miss the way that May’s eyes shine, how she looks at Daisy with relief in her gaze. How she looks like she’s just realized that the world hasn’t entirely come to an end.

It’s impossible not to step forward, to throw her arms around May and press their bodies together. May feels solid against her, like home, and then, just like that, as May’s arms wrap around her and hold her tighter, Daisy breathes again.

“You’re back.”

May nods and her grip doesn’t loosen. “I’m back.”

 

* * *

 

The mood in the base shifts when May is back and even though nothing has really changed, not in the reality of things, Daisy feels like a weight has been lifted off of her shoulders. It’s easy to look at May and think _now someone else will take care of this_. Sometimes Daisy feels much younger than she knows she is. Sometimes she still wants what she never had when she was little: someone there to handle things for a while.

It doesn’t take long before Daisy has the rug pulled out from under her all over again.

There should really be a limit on the number of times that sort of thing can happen to someone throughout their life. Not that the universe seems to care what Daisy has to say about the subject.

“Wait…you’re leaving?”

The question hangs there between May and Daisy and Daisy can already tell from May’s posture and the fact that she’s looking anywhere else but Daisy that the answer to her question is going to be an affirmative one.

It makes her want to slam her fist into the punching bag but without any of the finesse and posture that May has been working for years to teach her. It makes her want to hit the bag over and over until she feels better about things.

“But you just got back.”

May finally meets her gaze. “I know. But this has to be done.”

Daisy frowns, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. “What has to be done? Where are you going?”

Another question that goes unanswered for long enough that the seconds tick by into minutes. Daisy is about to throw the question back at May, to demand an answer, to point out that they should trust each other by now damnit, why do they still have secrets when May finally decides to respond.

“I got a message from Maria before all the…” May waves a hand, as though trying to pull the right phrase out of thin air. “All the stuff with the dust. She sent me the name of someone who might be able to help. I just need to find her.”

Daisy crosses her arms over her chest. “We can all go.”

She doesn’t want to get into too many details about this apparent mission. Doesn’t want to know who they’re after or how finding her might suddenly make everything better again. She doesn’t want to get her hopes up, not when she’s learning how to navigate the new, empty, confusing world.

May shakes her head. “It’ll be better if it’s just me. Easier.”

Her expression softens and she steps forward, laying a hand on Daisy’s shoulder. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Daisy shrugs May’s hand off, refusing to look at her as she pushes past her and out the door. May doesn’t call after her but Daisy likes to imagine that she would have ignored her even if she did.

 

* * *

 

Despite their last exchange ending on a less than positive note, May doesn’t look at all surprised to find Daisy already sitting in Lola’s passenger seat the following morning when she goes to leave.

May tosses her own bag into the backseat of the car, managing to resist the impulse to smile when she notices Daisy’s duffel already on the floor.

Daisy looks at her, a scowl already in place. “I’m going with you.”

Without comment, May pulls open the driver’s side door, sliding behind the wheel. “What about Simmons? And the rest of the team?”

Now Daisy is the one without an answer on the tip of her tongue, the one looking anywhere but at the person speaking to her. “She’ll be here when I get back. Everyone will be fine without me for a little while. I just feel like I should go with you.”

May lifts an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I want to _do_ something.” Softer, she adds, “It does seem like the type of thing you should have to do alone.”

“I’m used to doing things along.”

All this gets May is an eyeroll. “You’ve been a part of a team for the past four years,” Daisy points out. “I think it’s time you just accept it.”

That’s not something May is going to argue with. Just like she’s not going to argue with Daisy riding in the copilot’s seat once again, just like she used to do when they were more naïve than they are now and it seemed like flying thousands of miles above everything else would make the rest of the world disappear.

Instead, May just reaches for her sunglasses, slipping them on. “Okay then.”

Daisy smiles, settling back comfortably in the passenger seat. “I thought I might have to work harder to convince you.”

May smirks. “Like you could.”

 

* * *

 

“So are you ever going to tell me where we’re going on this mysterious mission?”

“South.”

“South. Clearly. There are a lot of things South,” Daisy points out. “Texas. Mexico. The South Pole. Mississippi-”

“We’re going to Georgia,” May interrupts, shaking her head in Daisy’s direction.

Daisy nods, leaning back in her seat. “Thank god. I was starting to run out of places to name.”

“I could tell.” May smiles. “Thought I’d throw you a bone.”

Daisy puts her feet up on the dash, something she never would have done if the car still belonged to Coulson. Now it doesn’t seem to matter quite as much who touches Lola.

The streets are empty, though every so often May has to slow to swerve around an abandoned car stalled in one of the lanes or rammed into the back of another car. Every time, Daisy shifts slightly, trying to peer through the windows of what always proves to be a completely empty car. And every time, she looks disappointed, like all of this is just further proof that the world has officially come to an end, despite all their best efforts to make sure that didn’t happen. It makes May want to hug her again, like she’d done a few days ago when she’d walked into the base and found Daisy waiting there for her.

She hadn’t thought about what she would do if she found the base empty and dotted with piles of dust. Or, if she had found everyone there waiting for her aside from Daisy. Or maybe, she hadn’t really _allowed_ herself to think of that possibility.

After so many years of resigning herself to her desk job and her solitude, it still seems strange to imagine herself as someone how has a family, who has the people in her life to fill in those empty spaces.

But May figures there’s no point in denying it anymore.

Daisy runs her hand through her windswept hair, shuffling through a few songs on the iPod before settling on a track by some largely melancholy band that has a penchant for singing about love and ghosts.

“So this mysterious person in Georgia,” Daisy continues like there’s been no lapse in conversation at all. “Does she have a name?”

May nods. “Carol Danvers.”

She can practically see the lightbulb as it clicks on above Daisy’s head. She sits up in her seat, her feet slipping off the dashboard. “Wait…Carol Danvers…like the…air force pilot…like…” Daisy looks at May, waiting for her to correct her, to say something like _oh no, the_ other _Carol Danvers_.

When she doesn’t, Daisy just adds, “Captain Marvel.”

Another nod. “Maria seemed to believe that she would be able to help with all of…this.”

This being an empty stretch of highway winding through an empty state. Just like dozens of other highways in dozens of other states.

Daisy arches her eyebrows. “ _You_ know Captain Marvel.”

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

Quickly, Daisy shakes her head, laughing as she runs a hand through her hair once more, pulling it out of her face. “I’m not really surprised by anything you do anymore, May.”

 

* * *

 

They stop in some town Daisy isn’t bothered to learn the name of because all that really matters is that there are still enough people left behind to keep it up and running. Everything has the same quiet, subdued atmosphere that Daisy left behind at the base. Like everyone is just waiting to turn the corner and find someone they thought had vanished without a trace.

Or that they’re waiting to disappear too.

The clerk behind the desk at the motel May picks for them to spend the night doesn’t say much as he takes their information and hands over two sets of keys. The news is on but there’s really nothing to report. It’s still too soon to get back into any sort of normalcy but there’s nothing new to add: no sign of who disappeared, no idea where they went or why, not thoughts on how to get them back.

As May unlocks the door to their room, Daisy asks, “Do you really think this is going to work? Do you think there’s a way to undo all of this?”

May pushes the door open, flicking on the light as she steps inside. “All we can do is try.”

“You sound like a fortune cookie.”

May tosses her bag onto one of the double beds. “You don’t need someone to lie to you, Daisy.”

Daisy wrinkles her nose, perching on the edge of the other bed. “No…though it can be nice sometimes.”

May doesn’t say anything or amend her previous answer, which is just fine with Daisy. Maybe she doesn’t need someone to lie to her, not in that moment. None of them really have any use for false reassurances right now anyway.

They order Thai takeout and Daisy calls Jemma to check in while May showers off. Daisy flips through the channels, not that there are many still on the air, trying not to count the minutes that May is gone, trying to remind herself that May isn’t going to just disappear all the sudden.

That that kind of thing wouldn’t happen more than once.

She thinks.

Still it’s a relief when the water shuts off with a groan and May steps out of the bathroom moments later. Something must show on her face, because May looks at her and asks, “Everything okay?”

Daisy nods, tossing the remote aside. “Yeah. Just…you know…”

“Worried,” May supplies. “I’m not going anywhere, Daisy.”

Daisy exhales, nodding again. “I know. I know.”

She doesn’t know this for sure. Neither does May. But maybe Daisy still _does_ need someone to tell her a lie every now and then.

 

* * *

 

It takes Daisy a second to realize what has woken her up, not that she’s a heavy sleeper these days. For a second, the motel seems frozen in perfect darkness, still as the world can be in the middle of the night.

But then she hears the sound again, a soft whimper, something Daisy thinks that she might not even notice under normal circumstances. But here, in this small room, in an unfamiliar state after the end of the world, it seems like an important sound to notice.

Especially since the whimper is coming from the other side of the room, from May’s bed.

Daisy sits up, squinting through the darkness. In the light shining into the room from the streetlamps outside, Daisy can just barely see May, her face pinched, brow furrowed. “Don’t,” she whispers and that word is somehow worse than the whimpering the preceded it. “Please.”

Quickly, Daisy slips out of bed, crossing over to May’s bed quickly. She knows exactly what a nightmare looks like.

“May,” Daisy whispers, gently resting her hand on May’s shoulder. “May, it’s okay. Wake up.”

May does, so suddenly that it completely catches Daisy by surprise and nearly makes her stumble back. May’s eyes snap open and she sits upright, reaching for Daisy’s arm on her shoulder and grabbing her wrist before Daisy can even think about taking a step backward.

“May, it’s okay,” Daisy says quickly, louder this time. “It’s me. It’s Daisy. It’s okay. You’re okay.”

Slowly, May seems to remember her surroundings. Slowly, she starts to relax. She lets go of Daisy’s wrist, shaking her head. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. You were having a nightmare.”

May doesn’t say anything, doesn’t acknowledge Daisy or her words at all. Cautiously, Daisy eases herself into a sitting position on the edge of May’s bed, resting her hand against the small of her May’s back.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Daisy knows it’s a long shot. She also knows the answer that she would give to this particular question. But the words pass her lips anyway, an offering that she doesn’t expect to be accepted.

May only shakes her head, though she doesn’t shy away from Daisy’s hand or tell her to leave.

Though that doesn’t stop Daisy from asking, tentatively, “Do you want me to…”

Again, May only shakes her head and so Daisy stays, putting her arm around May’s shoulders and listening as her breathing starts to even out, as the night starts to grow quiet around them again. Neither of them falls back asleep but it doesn’t seem to matter.

 

* * *

 

The towns and streets and cars and buildings pass by in a blur, the monotony balanced out only by the music on Daisy’s iPod and the conversations that she’s able to pull May into. They don’t talk about the night before, or the nightmares that they both have that fill their dreams or the people they’ve left behind. They don’t need to. They’ve known each other for too long to need to put those things into words.

As they move closer to their destination, Daisy starts to feel her anxiety build, her palms prickling, her mouth suddenly dry. She swallows, telling herself that it has everything to do with the possibility of meeting Captain Marvel herself and nothing to do with the fact that they might actually have a chance to reverse everything and save the world.

Or that she might not be there. That there’s nothing that can be done after all.

Though, just like with everything else, May seems to know exactly what’s on her mind. May’s hand settles on Daisy’s shoulder, taking her by surprise and causing her to turn her head quickly in May’s direction.

May offers her a smile, quiet, reassuring. “Whatever happens, everything will be all right.”

It doesn’t sound like a lie, coming from May. It doesn’t seem like the type of thing that you say without really meaning it.

Daisy thinks that the words are true because of the woman sitting beside her and the people waiting back at the base. “I know.”  


End file.
